Sinking Beauty
by Atshepsut
Summary: Audrey is devastated when Ben declares is love to Mal. She craves revenge, and tries to bring Mal and her friends down. In response, the villain decides to make her life a true nightmare. Warning: there will be minor swearing in this fiction.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Welcome to my Descendants' fanfiction!**

 **First of, disclaimer: I do not own anything related to that movie (I just borrow).**

 **Now, we can get started. Hi. This story revolves mostly around Audrey, and deals with the way she reacted after Ben fell in love with Mal and made it official. It is set just after 'Did I Mention', and it totally deviates from the original reaction she had. It is written from an omniscient point of view.**

 **Enjoy! ;p**

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 **PART ONE: Auradon**

Chapter 1

 _I love you_. Just like that. How could such beautiful words send such a hard and senseless punch in her guts? It sounded as light as wind chimes, and as electrical as a lightning bolt. It brought so much emotions to her, had so much meaning, that her tears were pouring down her cheeks.

Maybe if he had said it to her, it wouldn't have been tears of despair.

Chapter 2

She knew they were trouble. The moment she saw them, treading in their reckless manner, with caramel and chocolate smears on their faces, fighting and bickering like lost puppies over a stupid chicken bone. She knew she would hate their guts. With a deep, and fierce passion. It was not exactly love at first sight, indeed. Yet the boys, she could handle. They were rude, and a bit dumb-dumb on the edges, but nothing worrying overall - if they didn't crossed paths anymore, that is. No, the real issue, was with the girls. Or rather, **that** girl. She, on the contrary, wasn't bickering with anybody. She remained rather calm, poised. Seeing the scenery, but not really watching. Her stare wondered on the many trees of the garden, and swept mindlessly the various flowers with her crystal-clear eyes. She was thinking.

"Of course she's thinking! Thinking of her next trick. What else would you expect from a cunning witch."

Purple hair, violet leather outfit, angel face and devil smile. Her attitude screamed _Renegade!_ , and by the first step set out of the car, she started reeking the entire kingdom with the delightful scent of the devil _eau de toilette_. Sweet, spicy, with a tiny zest of hell. And what an outfit! Oh so stylish ; a cute, adorable dragon was sewed onto her jacket's left shoulder. What joy Audrey felt when she learned she was the spawn of infamous Maleficent. She almost puked out her lunch. "It's gonna be great", he said. "You'll see, I'm sure you're gonna end up friend with them!" Yeah, right. Candid prick.

Ben greeted them with such warmth. It was almost offensive. How couldn't he see the flames dancing in the most profound depth of their eyes? She could. Or perhaps it was only the reflection of the sun, shining bright as the bells rang noon. Benjamin welcomed them all, with a friendly smile. He even made a kind little comment on each of the new comers, his smile getting brighter and brighter, brighter then the reflection of the sun, brighter than the sun itself, brighter than the flames of hell in their eyes.

It was loathsome.

But that, she could handle. A quick meaningless speech, greetings, "welcome to Auradon!", and she would send the pricks away. Easy. But no. There had to be trap in the bargain. Some trick of some sort. Otherwise, where's the fun?

Ben came up to Mal. And Audrey still wondered if it was the angel face, or the devil smile. Or maybe both. Or maybe her eyes, light-colored as Heaven would be, a peaceful haven from all the darkness, in her hair, in her clothes, in her cold and stern facial expression she wouldn't let go of. The prince dived into them, exploring them while they sparkled under the sweep of a sun beam.

It was beyond loathsome. It was sickening.

Of course, Audrey made her entrance before he drowned, as she felt he was already sinking into her gaze. She introduced herself, very politely. With an ounce of bitterness she attempted to hide, while she was talking to Mal, for there was still the echo of an history of spindles and fairies when she spoke.

Oh, yes. From the moment she saw them, she knew they were trouble. Just, not necessarily that kind of trouble.

Yet, here she was. Hiding in the bathroom, weeping waterfalls of salty tears, and blowing her nose on a thirty-eight-tissues-per-hour velocity. She tried not to cried too hard ; she didn't want to grimace to much, afterall, she remained the daughter of the Sleeping Beauty. But when she thought of the smile he had on, the way he laughed, the way he screamed "I love you, Mal!", the emotion and enthusiasm in his voice, she couldn't help but think : why her? And she'd slip in another wave of cries, these ones even harder, with sobs that would shake her entire body. For, she had absolutely no comprehension of the situation, in a way.

Ben was a real sweetheart. He couldn't be nicer. Sometimes a bit to nice, she would reckon. Him allowing four people from the Isle of the Lost to live here was the ultimate proof of his noblety of heart (and his extreme naivety). He didn't judge them, didn't bring up the morbid past of their parents, but he befriended them instead - or more than befriended for some... so how could he, him, Prince Benjamin Florian of Auradon, the most loyal, kind-hearted, generous, sweet and trustworthy young prince that had ever walked this Earth, how could he have betrayed her in such an unashamed, rude, and disgusting way? How could he have been so cruel?

She was so embarassed. She couldn't even get out of the toilet. She, Princess Audrey, was supposed to become the spouse of the royal heir. She was to be a Queen. But now she was doomed to remain on that stool forever and never get out. Never, ever.

Eventually, she stopped crying. Afterall, Ben was just a stupid prick. Who was to be crowned King, though. But a prick nontheless. She got out of the bathroom. The time had flown by and her butt had become sore after sitting for so long. She didn't want anyone to see her puffy eyes, therefore she tiptoed to her room, in the fastest way she could. In the corridor, unfortunately for her dried-tears filled face, she encountered Lonnie, getting out of Evie and Mal's bedroom. She was smiling. She seemed to be caught in a daydream ; perhaps thinking of what she was just talking about with her new friends. Her gaze wandered innocently, drawing loops in the air, until her eyes connected with the mess in front of her.

"AH! Oh, Audrey, you startled me," she said, and then relaxed before entering another daydream of hers. And then a state of shock, again.

"AH! Audrey, it's you! You know, I didn't know you and Ben broke up."

"Me neither."

"Oh, I've you been crying? Are you alright? You look a mess."

"I know that. I'm aware of that."

"You have an eyelash on your cheek. No, not that cheek, the left cheek. No, the other left cheek. Where were you all this time? You should have seen this, Ben declared his *love* to Mal! It was so romantic!"

"Really?... What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything; he sang!"

"I feel sick to my stomach."

"It was **the** greatest thing, Audrey! Everybody danced, and cheered, and sang, and... oh, you're turning white, Audrey, are you okay? Oh, my, I'm such an idiot-"

"Indeed."

"- you're still all shaken by the breakup, is that it? Oh, and I'm here talking about Ben and, erm... Oh, I'm so sorry! How could you ever forgive me? Oh I know! Do you want me to bake you some delicious chocolate ships cookies?"

Audrey turned around, ready to walk away, "No, thank you. I don't like chocolate," and then she marched herself to her bedroom, eyes glued to her feet, forgetting to tiptoe. She left Lonnie to her daydreaming.

"You're sure you don't want cookies? What about brownies? Oh, yeah, right : no chocolate. What kind weird living being doesn't like chocolate?"

She closed the door. In a desperate, theatrical manner, she fell on her bed and sank her face into her pillows. Something soft and warm, at last. She remained there, sprawled as a starfish, rambling on whys, and whats, and why mes. Whoever would have seen her would probably question her state and wonder if she's still alive. However, under her sloppy apparel, creeping underneath her skin to surface out, was the dullest, hardest, hottest anger that could ever be. Step aside sadness, make place for fury, the craziest bitch you'll ever meet.

Suddently, she felt enraged. By that stupid loonie-Lonnie. By that piece-of-crap prick Ben. By Mal. She couldn't even make up a nickname for her, for words couldn't describe how much she despised her. With all her heart and soul. More than anything else on Earth. More than her mother Maleficent. Well, isn't that daunting. Her dried-tears started to burn her skin.

She bit one of her cushion. She was sweating and she needed to get changed, but she didn't care. Because she swore that, from that day, she would be an even more cunning witch than Mal. And Audrey was smart, very smart.

However, and unfortunately for her, she didn't have a spell book. When Mal did.

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 **To be continued...**

 **Anyways, I hoped you like the first chapters (I guess chapter 1 is more of a prologue than an actual chapter, but I don't like prologues, so), the chapters will not always be even, lenght-wise, so I apologize in advance if some chapters are a bit to short. That's why I put chapter 1 and 2 together.**

 **Thank you very much for reading, the next chapter will be uploaded soon! 8D**

 **Kiss kiss XX, Atshepsut**


	2. Chapter 2

**Howdy hi!**

 **I just want to say thank you to the ones who read the first chapters of my fanfic, even though I do want to point out, that even if the beginning of this story is about the end of Audrey and Ben's romance, most of it will actually be about the way Audrey sees Mal and her friends.**

 **Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy.**

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Chapter 3

"You really are the best at this game, Mal."

"I know, I'm genius right?"

"You are. And you're also the Queen of modesty," Evie said while toying with her handbag.

The two girls were sitting on their beds, chatting on there genius plan before going down for dinner.

Mal had made Ben fall head-over-heels for her. It wasn't so hard, since she had her mother's old spell-book and a few tricks up her sleeve. Though she did doubt that she even needed the book to woo him ; she saw the way he looked at her. The magic wasn't in the spells, it was in her. In a glance, she had charmed him, and now, with a treat, he was all hers.

She had seen very well the way it had moved Audrey. It didn't bother her much, for she had one purpose, and one purpose only: free her mother from the Isle of the Lost with the magic wand. Free her mother... free them all. All those who were emprisoned in this rathole. The poor ones who didn't do anything but come into existence, and had the unfortune of being the heir of a kingdom of terror. Those who grew up bathing in mud and eating bugs for lunch, because their parents were to busy begrudging the kingdom next door that should have been theirs, the throne they should be sitting on, the people they should be ruling. The poor kids, them stupid critters, who learned to read only to read spell-books, who learned to count to be able to count their wounds, who learned to lie before they talk, who learned to punch before they walk. All those who were like her. All the ones that have made mistakes, but were too old to even remember what mistakes... all those miserable people, she was going to set them free. Open their cage and let them fly. She had to. And she was ready to do anything needed to acheive her goal. And if she had to break a few hearts on the way, then so be it.

The girls heard a light knock on the door. After a nice "come in" from Evie, Lonnie entered the room with a funny smile pasted on her face. She looked even more desoriented than usual, her eyes twitching around, exploring, looking at everything in the room, except at Mal.

"Are you coming down for dinner?"

XxXxX

Audrey sat with Jane, at a little round table near one of the fireplaces of the canteen. The place was a huge room, with several tables disposed in a central symmetrical way; there was a huge rectangular table in the center, and it was surrended by four ten-person round tables, themselves surrounded by eight littler tables, closer to the walls. There were three fireplaces, that were sometimes used to cook good ol' recipes during winter.

The young Beauty was busy contemplating her bowl of soup, roaming in her rage while she stirred it with her butterknife.

"Hum, maybe you should use a spoon..."

She kept stirring the soup, absorbed in a vivid daze. She was so angry. She was cold. She wanted to do something bad to Mal, to get revenge, but she didn't know what. Her mind kept wandering in this never-ending maze, and nothing could get her out of that dark, dull haze.

Before she began drawing another loop in her food, Jane grabbed her hand firmly. She then looked at her, and brought her hand back on the table, away from the butterknife and the soup.

"I'm sorry," Audrey whispered.

"It's alright."

She waited for her friend to say something else. But nothing came. It was just the same blank expression. Cold and lost.

"Aren't you gonna bother telling what's happening?"

"What, you mean you don't know?" Audrey nearly spat, with red veins convulsing in the white of her buldging eyes, "I thought your _friend_ Mal would have told you, since you like to hang out with her so much."

"... Audrey, it's not my fault you broke up with Ben."

"WE DIDN'T BREAK UP," she shouted and hit the table with her fist, knocking down her bowl and spilling its content. Long orange smears of soup came staining her blue pale cardigan sleeve. "See what you made me do?", she said while trying to clean up the mess.

A bit flabbergasted, Jane decided to remain silent for a while ; she knew her friend could act like a devastating hurricane when she was upset. Gently, she handed her her napkin. Audrey didn't take it. So, she agitated it in her nose for her to notice it. Audrey looked up, cringed and stared at Jane, with the napkin hanging loose from her hand and her sorry expression on her face. She wanted to light up the fireplace and throw her in it, just to see which one would turn to ashes first: her, or the green gingham napkin?

"Why are you two still friends, when you know she stole my boyfriend?" she asked, instead of grabbing the piece of cloth.

"I thought you dumped him."

"Me?! And why would I do that?"

"I don't know... maybe he's done something, and you got mad... You do have kind of a temper, you know?"

"I DON'T HAVE A... temper."

"But you know, Mal isn't all that bad, she's kinda nice, actually."

"Nice?! Do you know what her name means in French? It means bad! Evil! And even an ache! Because that's what she is, she's a real pain."

"I heard her middle name was Bertha."

"Jane. Stop being an idiot."

"But it's true, she's nice. And so is Evie. Look, they've even done my hair pretty."

"What, she's a hairstylist now?"

"No. She's done it with _magic._ "

She blanked out.

Magic. The word had slapped her across her face. Of course. Of course! How could she had omitted that detail: witches always had magic at the tip of their fingers. They drew it from their diabolical den, summoning the friendly-shadows with whom they had made a deal with. Oh, the witch. She had brought black magic with her from her dreadful hometown. At that very moment, Audrey felt her stomach twisting itself inside out. She sensed raw danger coming in her way. She was very aware of the damage that could be caused by a person a bit to angry who had a bit too much power. Bad things could happen... Horrible things, even. She shivered at the thought of Mal, the cunning witch, being in possession of any type of magical tool of some kind. My, the things you could do with magic... Hypnotize, manipulate, create or destroy, breed or kill, emprison or set free ; all that thanks to a single spell, a few words, said in prose or rhyme, that could turn the world upside down. My, oh my, this was terrible. She started feeling pearls of sweat rolling down her forehead.

"What kind of magic?" she asked nervously, though she wished her friend had never answered.

"She's got that spell-book, that she's always had, apparently. She used it to-"

"Oh my gosh! This is awful! A freaking spell-book? And you're telling she's had it since the beginning? Imagine all the things she could do with it! Maybe she hypnotized you," she got up and reached across the table to grab Jane face, squeezing her cheeks in her hand, "let me check your eyes, I heard they change colors when someone is under the hold of magic. Gah! Or maybe she poisoned the food! Quick, spit it out, Jane, spit it out!"

"Y're hurtng me."

"Maybe she can turn into a dragon! Or turn us into fetishes! Or make the entire kingdom fall asleep! She can make potions! Philters! Philters..." she stopped.

Philters. _Love_ philters.

Ouh, the bitch. Ouh, the bitch-witch.

Suddently, everything made sense. Ben being in love with her, the freak show after the tourney, the languorous 'I love you': it was all because of a love philter. She knew it. She was absolutely sure about it.

Audrey jolted up of her chair. She swept the room with her eyes and looked out for Ben and Mal. Ben usually sat at the rectangular table, but weirdly, he wasn't there. She started to shudder with rage. She ignored the many questions of her friend and rushed out of the canteen. Her steps stomped the ground with thuds of determination, and each times her feet touched the ground, her rage vibrated and grew bigger. She reached the yard behind the refectory, and squinted to see if she could spot a purple-haired bitch at one of the picnic tables. She first noticed the radiant smile of the soon-to-be king, and who was he smiling to? **The purpled-haired bitch!** She almost exploded with wrath.

She walked up to them (she couldn't run, she was sweaty enough already) and posted herself at the end of the table, fists on her waist, blocking the sun.

The two lovebirds watched her, puzzled. Ben's smile faded. He gave her a sorry look, shaded with a slight of embarassment.

"Hi."

"Hello, Prince Benjamin," Audrey barked, with a hint of hysteria in her tone, and waved with her soup-stained arm. "Mal, we have to talk," she grabbed her by the arm and brought her under a oak tree. She could swear she felt flames from below when she touched her. The villain looked at her as if she was crazy, and waited for her to talk.

"Where is it?" Audrey asked.

"Where is what?"

The young Beauty then bursted out of laughter. Anger made her insane, that was for sure.

"Oh please, like you don't know! Your book! Your little magic book! Where is it?"

Mal frowned. She definitely didn't like that girl.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why do I want to know? Hmm, let me think about that for a second," she pulled up her skirt in the most ridiculous way and scratched her chin with her index, "whyyyyy would I want to know? Maybe it's because your mother MALEFICENT learned her worst tricks from that book and tried to finish my mother. Or maybe it's because you could easily turned the entire kingdom to stone. Or maybe it's because you're a witch and you eat babies. Or maybe it's because you cast a spell on my boyfriend! Who, by the way, is the future King of the United States of Auradon!"

Mal arched an eyebrow. A smile gradually appeared on her face. The only thing missing would be horns that would grow out of her forehead to complete her devil panoply.

"Is that all you're afraid of, Audrey? she whispered.

She stepped forwards. Audrey shiverred.

"Don't you fear I could do something else with this book? Something to... someone special?"

Audrey took a step back.

"Maybe I could show you what I can do. But don't be surprised if tomorrow you wake up in your coffin."

This time, it was her laughing hysterically.

"So you better be careful, missy. Because, I now it's sad, but I'm in control right now. So if I were you, I'd stay quiet and forget about snitching anything to anybody. Oh, and I'll also forget _Benny-boo_."

Mal took a step closer. She lifted her hand and Audrey gasped. The brunette closed her eyes. She waited for a hit to come. After a few seconds, she felt a flick on her forehead. When she opened her eyes, Mal was heading back to her table. And even from behind, she could tell she was smiling.

XxXxX

It was a sunny morning. Jane stared at her complexion in her bathroom's mirror. The hairstyle Mal had gifted her with was already falling flat. The curls had loosened a lot, but her hair remained shiny and silky. It was still better than before. She used a long blue hair clip to secure the upper part of her hair, and arranged her messy brows with an old toothbrush. She looked down at her nose. Bleh. Maybe Mal could do something to make it seems less... potatoe-like. She took her school-bag and headed to class.

Her first period was French, which she took with Audrey and Benjamin - she found it strange that the future King of Auradon would go to class with them, instead of being home-schooled, but she thought it really underlined his modesty. Her mother had told her to take French lessons because it was greatly spoken in the north-western part of the Kingdom. She wasn't very good at it, but Audrey was the best.

She entered the class under the _Allez! Allez!_ , and the _Dépêchons!_ of Mrs. Madeleine and sat behind Audrey. She noticed the pale face of her friend, but was too rushed by the teacher to say a word. Her friend looked tensed, and had brief spasms from time to time (something almost imperceptible, a tiny hiccup which lasted less than a second, but which seemed like an earthquake near her stoicism). The course started. Audrey didn't participate much, which was quite unusual of her; in fact, she barely even took any notes. When it was time for Mrs. Madeleine to make a digression on a new rule of grammar, Audrey took advantage of her facing the black-board to scribble a note on a torn piece of paper, folded it, and gave it to Jane.

"Pass it to Ben."

Jane took the paper without a sound. She slightly unfolded a part of it, but quickly folded it back, her favorite mother's saying resonating in her head; 'Curiosity killed the cat.' She passed to Ben, just before Mrs. Madeleine turned back and started yammering on the Imperfect tense. Fascinating.

Ben unfolded the paper; _"Mal cast a love-spell on you. A."_

Jane observed her friend. Something was wrong, that was for sure. She could hear her bitting her nails. From time to time, she would pass her white sleeve on her forehead, surely to wipe off pearls of sweat. Jane knew that sweating for Audrey meant being upset. She hadn't speak to her, about what happened during dinner, she had never asked why she didn't come back, or why she rushed outside in first place.

She felt a soft pat on her shoulder: it was Ben. He handed him the paper, without even looking her in the eyes. He had the face of a kid who had made a mistake and was about to be scolded. You could tell this was bad news. She tapped her friend's shoulder, and gave her the paper.

Audrey unfolded it. She read it. She read it again. She crumpled it. And threw on the ground.

 _"I know. B."_

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 **TA-DAAAAHHHHH!**

 **Before anything, I would like to point out that I do NOT think Jane has an ugly nose, it's an insecurity of hers, bet her nose is great. Just saying.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which was a bit longer than the first ones.**

 **Also, I hope very much you noticed another Disney character I brought up : Madeleine! From _The Hunchback of Notre Dame II_ (I know her name was spelled Madellaine, but I just don't like the looks of it). Since she's French, I decided to make her a French teacher, and since Ben's parents are from France too, well, he's taking French lessons now.**

 **Chapter four is coming up soon, I promise!**

 **Have a nice weekend, see you next time!**

 **KISS KISS XX, ATSHEPSUT**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 4

It was a beautiful morning. Fall had just begun; trees were starting to slightly blush, and the sun peeked through the red and yellow leaves. Through her window, Audrey could see two magpies squabbling on a branch, fighting as two fencers with their beaks. She watched them. She observed their wriggling wings, examined every of their feathers. She was sitting on her bed, with her hands on her lap. She sat there for quite a long time. Her hair was done. Her teeth were brushed. Her bag was down, near her feet. Her clothes were on; she was wearing her very favorite cardigan, a pale pink rib-stitch one, with little roses for buttons, and a white chiffon dress. She was all set. She had skipped breakfast. And class was starting in approximatively thirty-two seconds. But she didn't budge.

Eventually, the two birds flew away. The branch shook at their take-off, and yellow leaves rained on the last vestiges of green in the tree. Each fallen leaf felt like a caress on her cheek, a whisper in her ear. The sun was, then, already high up in the sky. It occured to her that it might be eleven already, which meant she had skipped two classes.

She got up.

Then sat back down.

She just couldn't go. Ideas of pretended illnesses swirled inside her head. She took off her shoes. Maybe she would just stay here all day. Lay in her bed and do nothing. Hide under three-thousand layers of blankets and sheets and hibernate until the next summer. Her mother had done worse, anyway, when it came to napping. It was a rather good idea, she thought. She would create a shelter out of her pillows, then sleep and slouch on a soft cloud of squashy cushions all day long...

 _Knock, knock, knock._

She hopped on her mattress. Just thinking of sleeping had soporific effects on her, and the knocks she had heard had brought her out of her daydream.

"Who is it?"

The door opened, a little round head peered through, "It's just me," Jane said with a smile, "just checking if you're doing alright." She entered the room and closed the door behind her. Her little white heels clicked on her way, when she came to sit next to her friend. She handed her a napkin she had folded in half, "You didn't come for breakfast, so I snatched you a croissant."

 _Oh, Jane dear, you just know me so well,_ Audrey thought. She smiled lightly, but the corners of mouth wouldn't go as far as showing the white of teeth. Her hands grabbed the wrapped pastry and set it on her lap. She stared at it, and guessed the shape of it by the bumps and hollows. _Hmm, croissant! So delicious, so crispy and soft at the same time! So round and circular..._ She frowned. In a flash, she swifted the cloth off and threw it in Jane's face. "You! You vicious liar! That's not a croissant, that's a chocolate éclair!" she hollered, feeling disabused, while holding the dishonest dish with the tips of her fingers, feigning utter disgust.

"Well it was all that was left, so you get along with that," Jane said, with some wit that could have turned Audrey into a minefield.

"I **HATE** CHOCOLATE, REMEMBER?"

"Of course, I remember. That's why I said it was a croissant."

Her friend gave her a deadly stare.

"Gawlee! If you don't want it, I'll have it."

Audrey laid on her bed and sighed. She curled up in the little ball of nerves she was. It was Thursday, and she couldn't wait for the week to come to an end. She knew a long and annoying weekend awaited her, though; she would go back to her hometown of Apheliotia, and have her parents interrogating her about all she did at school, all she learned, her grades, her advancement in class, how she was doing with Ben, what she had for lunch... and all that without ever forgetting to compare her with her perfectly perfect and flawlessly flawless twin siblings: Aube and Jour*. But that was okay, in comparison with what she had to put up with at Auradon Prep.

The horrid chills that stroked her whenever she was near Mal, whenever she heard her piercing voice speaking in a honeyed tone, whenever she saw her walking down the halls in her sinuous tread, silently creeping like vicious snakes, the sharp glares, the smiles, the snorts, her presence, her voice, everything! Everything about her, she couldn't stand it anymore. She had to get out of here, as soon as possible.

Audrey's stare wandered on the walls of her room, the windows, and then landed on Jane.

"You have a leaf in your hair."

Jane touched the top of her head and sought the leaf. Her hand scratched her scalp, and she finally found it when she reached the back of her head. She looked at it and threw it away, mindlessly, "Might be from the tree near my bedroom's windows, I always let them open at night."

Audrey nodded.

"Are you coming to class?"

"No."

"Not at all?"

"Uh-uh."

Jane sighed. And then smiled, like a kid who knew something he shouldn't: she just remembered something. She looked through her bag, all excited, squeaking almost, and got a little shiny item out of it. She showed it proudly to her best friend. The girl frowned in response.

"And this is...?"

"A mirror!" Jane shrieked.

"Yeah I can see that."

"No, no, no, but you don't get it," Jane got closer to Audrey, "it's Evie's mirror. And guess what, it's almost as powerful as her mother's!"

"What?" the brunette sat up.

"I promise," Jane looked at the door behind her, then she got up and locked it, because walls have ears, "it can show her whatever she desires to see, and that in a matter of seconds! I saw her with it once, she said something like: 'mirror, mirror, that I hold, make the present of the Isle unfold', and it showed it, like that!" she snapped her fingers, "I was in physics class this morning with her, and it slipped out of her purse. So, I took it. At one point, I thought of giving it back to her. But then, I thought of you, and I know how you feel about Evie and Mal, so I just kept it. I swear, I was so scared she'd found out; I saw her searching something in her bag, several times, then looking through her pockets and under her notebook. I didn't budge, I pretended to listen to Mr. Harrold boring talk, but at one moment I said 'looking for something?' and she said 'no'. It was so funny how confused she was! But, it's lousy, really, because only she can use it. I tried on my way here, but it didn't work."

Slowly, through little twiches at the corner of her lips, appeared a prickly rictus on Audrey face. Her eyes glowed in an odd glint.

What was shown on her face was just bold insanity.

She seized the mirror in a heartbeat, lifted her arm, then smashed it on the ground, in a _yiiiiiihaaaaaaah!_

She then stomped on the shattered pieces, under the eyes of her bewildered friend.

XxXxX

Evie was sewing a new skirt when it happened. She was focusing on the hem of her cotton half-slip. She listened to the sweet and familiar music of the sewing-machine, a soft **trakatrakatrakat** pounding marvelously.

And then it cracked.

Her whole body bent in pain. Her sleeve got caught in the needle of the machine, and it started spiking her arm furiously before she took her foot off the pedal. A loud, beastly scream escaped her lips, before she jerked her arm and ripped her sleeve apart. The pain grew bigger. Not uniformely: it scathered in her body touch by touch, like little shards of glass being jabbed in her hand, her right calf, then her spleen, and then her left ear, her cheek, her neck...

She screamed and twisted, before her head got hit by a first-degree migraine.

Overwhelmed, she held her temples. A blur spread in front of her eyes. They were dull. She collapsed on the ground.

XxXxX

"I don't know, I don't know...! I, I... I just came in, and she was there, lying on the ground! She, she, her face was all white, all cracked, cracked everywhere... her legs, her belly, her arms - oh! her arm was like, in a puddle of blood, there were red stains coming from her sewing table!"

"Calm down, Mal, your friend is alright now. People are taking care of her, she's safe. Calm down," said the headmistress of Auradon Academy, Gaïa.

"Cracked! Everywhere, like a porcelain doll... her face, white..."

Fairy godmother got up and gave a hug to the purple-head. The girl just sat there, not used to this type of gestures. Her mind pictured Evie, laid on the ground, her hands tensing her skull. Petrified, motionless. Her mind picture the fissures on her skin. One thing was she sure, magic had done this. What else could have done such a horrible thing? But really, the whole thing had shaken her more than it had hurt her. Obviously, this was the action of one of her enemy (she had made a few, since her first day in Auradon), so obviously, and undubitably, this meant war.

* * *

 ***In the original version, written by Charles Perrault, the children of the Sleeping Beauty are actually named Aurore and Jour, so I changed Aurore's name to Aube to avoid any ambiguity.**

 **So I named Fairy Godmother Gaïa. Anyways.**

 **I would like to address some of the reviews I got for chapter 3, regarding who I chose to be my lead character: Audrey. I know most people hate her, but I believe there wasn't enough character development on her in the movie. That's one of the reasons I chose her. Also, if you don't like Audrey, I understand, but I am trying here to dig deeper into her character, so please, don't be to mean. Finally, about Mal; I _have_ to make her look super mean when I write, because my fiction is Audrey centric and she doesn't get along with her. **

**That's it for now, thank you for reading!**

 **If you have any questions, feel free to ask them!**

 **Kiss kiss, Atshepsut**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 5

She took her favorite white scarf and stuffed it in her bag. Quickly, she slipped her shoes on and got out of her room. It was Friday, six o'clock, almost seven, still dark outside. She had showered just minutes before. She had brushed her teeth... or perhaps she hadn't, she didn't quite remember. She walked down the halls, strode past every door of every bedroom. She got down the stairs, not looking were she set her feet. On her way to the entrance, she walked past her mother's office; it was already lit. She didn't stop.

The headmistress got up of her desk, hearing her daughter's faint steps, and tried to get to her before she exited the dorm, "Jane, where are you going?"

The rushing girl barely turned to look at her, "I'm gonna see Dad."

She left.

XxXxX

Evie was sent at the palliative hospice of St Cassiodore, in King George Town. There, two nurses and a doctor, Mr. Arkan, had studied her case very thorougly: such a thing was, indeed, a rather rare thing to observe in Auradon, especially since magic was replaced by technology, and biology, and astrophysics, and biotechnology, and nanotechnology... Dr. Arkan noticed her wounds were already starting to mend, but what wounds; fissures, as the one that could be seen on a broken vase, clumsily pieced back together by a eight year old. Furrows creasing her skin on her entire body, within which appeared the pink of her flesh and vestiges of dried blood. The nurses made sure none of her wounds would get infected. The doctor ordered to let her rest, while he would try to figure out her case.

Prince Benjamin had in plan to pay a visit to Evie. He knew Mal was at the hospice already, and felt guilty of not having accompanied her there when she was so worried about her friend. But the Queen had asked him to come to the Castle for a visit; she needed to have discussion with him. Given the rigidity and coldness of the message he had received, he knew it wasn't something nice she wanted to talk about. The time for him to forsake is teenage life and take hold of the power was approaching, and his parents needed to make sure he would make a good and righteous King.

He entered his mother's room. She seemed to be putting something in her huge ebony cupboard.

"Looking for something?" he said.

The Queen jolted with surprise, and quickly slammed the doors of the closet shut.

"You startled me," she whispered and placed her hand on her chest, "Sit." She indicated the armchair next to her commode. She looked very worried - a little vertical wrinkle at the center of her frown trenched her forehead. Ben saw her delicate fingers wrap around a golden key, clenched so hard her palm went white. She marched up to her son and sat on her bed. He waited for her to talk. But the silence, the raw quietness which came instead of the sound of her voice was louder than anything she was to pronounce. Something was wrong, he could feel it. He could feel the tension floating in the air. The key was still resting peacefully in her tight grip. She looked down on it. Eventually, a small, sad, smile blossomed on her face, and she broke the silence.

"I hear you have befriended one of the islanders," she lifted her chin and looked at her son, "I am glad you were able to get along with each other. In the end, I believe bringing those youngsters to Auradon was a wonderful idea. Are they enjoying living here?"

"Well, they're still getting used to it. But it bet they love it already."

"Why, how great. I feared they would feel uneasy, this being quite a big change to their usual lifestyle," she smiled. Then she sighed.

"Mother," Ben inquired, "is there something you want to talk to me about?"

Queen Belle hesitated. The key was rubbing her fingers, "Well. About Mal. It seemed that you two are very close to each other."

"Yeah, she's real cool. We actually have quite a lot of things in common," he explained, but he felt the Queen wasn't paying attention. Her stare focused on the windows behind him, and seem to be blurred by a veil of dullness and blankness. He kept talking, but it felt like he was alone in the room. "I'm sure you'd love her."

She shook her head.

"I'm sure you would! She's -"

"Prince Benjamin!" she snapped. Finally she looked at her son, right into the eye. "What about Princess Audrey? She is your girlfriend, you cannot act this close with Mal in front of her and upset her thoughtlessly! Have you not any manners?" She grabbed her forehead and and rubbed her temples with her index.

"What?" The prince frowned. "Me and Audrey broke up."

The Queen shot him a death glaze.

"Prince Benjamin. You and Audrey _belong_ together-"

" - No we don't! - "

"The King and I even thought you would get married after your coronation."

"What?! Are you insane, mom?"

 _" **Prince Benjamin!** _ How dare you address your mother the Queen in such manners!" She jolted up her bed, like a fury, "From now on, as the soon-to-be King, you are to talk formally; rid your mouth of this foul language, it has become much too unbecoming! Regarding Princess Audrey, I demand you to re-kindle with her: you might not understand now, but this is for your best interests... Apologize to her."

"What are you talking about? I'm not apologizing to her, she's a horrible person!" He got up and stepped towards her, "Why do you want me to be with her anyway? She's selfish, shallow, and the rudest person I've ever met!"

" _ENOUGH!_ "

Eyes bulging and veins creeping and pulsing underneath her skin, she tensed her whole ridiculously petite frame and nearly crushed the key, still melting in her firy tight shut fist.

"It is **not** for you to choose!" She turned around and strode accross her room. She had decided she wouldn't face him anymore for the day. She wouldn't make the conversation any longer and she wouldn't tell him. Not now. The King and her had enough on their minds already... With the coronation coming up, and the arrival of the _'islanders'_ , as she liked to call them, many problems had started to surface and were threatening them on a political level.

Recently, on the Isle of the Lost, many riots had broke out - caused by some cruddy rascals who were utterly _pissed_ they hadn't be able to get out of this mudhole instead of the four lucky ones - at the Goblin Wharf dock; the only place of exchange between Auradon and the Isle. Products were shipped in every day and, _very_ occasionaly, they used it to mail letters from the realm to the island. Never the other way around. Being the only way in (and thus the only way _out_ ), and the only place of near inefficiency of the enchanted force field, it was the main target of attack of those who desperately wanted to flee: groups of yougsters would spread on the dock with sticks, stones and handmade weapons, and hit on every motioned being in order to seize the wheel and sail away. Guards always stopped them from getting on the boats, so they resorted to set fire to the ships and the barrils of mercandise, which hadn't yet been knocked open, with slingshots and rocks smeared with pitch. The poor fools were only making their case worse by wasting their own food and badly spoiling the ships that provided for them. They would run back home at some point, leaving behind them a big mess of burned wooden boards floating pitifully towards the Kingdom, and sludges of now unedible food that the crows were eyeing up and considering for dinner.

The lark had been lasting for several days, now, but it wouldn't be long before the King had enough with the joke and slammed his fist accross his desk. He was considering blockading the port for a while so they could learn the lesson. But the Queen thought it was to harsh of a punishment, inflicting starvation on a whole people when only some critters had done wrong.

She sighed and held her forehead, feeling a wind of anxiety blowing over.

"You may leave, now."

The Prince hesitated for a moment. His mother aswell, who thought of telling everything that was going wrong in the kingdom. After all, he was going to be King soon. But she remained silent, and Ben exited the room and shut the door. He then headed for King George Town, ignoring his mother disapproval.

Once he had left, Queen Belle headed towards her cupboard again. She unlocked it and took a box hidden far behing a stack of clothes. It was a leather box, kept shut by a golden clasp. She set it on her desk and swung it open with her thumbs. The box opened wide on a old bister paper sheet. The Queen picked it up, an umpteenth time in the week, and read it again.

 ** _"Letter to the King of Auradon, King Adam the Mighty, and to the beloved Queen of Auradon, Queen Belle the Wise._**

 ** _"On behalf of all the great names that have once ruled these lands, and are now yielding the throne to a one and only King for the welfare of the people, we demand that, in the name of equality and loyalty, the Kingdom will not only be ruled by one lineage, but several._**

 ** _"This is why, the King shall swear, that at the end of his reign, the monarchy will receive new blood that had formerly been royal, in order to thrive and prosper in the fairest and most honest way. This new blood shall come through the withdrawal of the current King, or by marriage._**

 ** _"This change of blood will not be postponed or revoked._**

 ** _"The King or Queen who attemps to postpone on revoke this change of blood will lose all of his or her powers and will be sent to the Isle of the Lost, for he or she will be considered as disgraceful as the ones dwelling therein._**

 ** _"With all due respect, the Grand Duke of Fortuna, official mediator of the United States of Auradon."_**

 _ **"P.s. : the ones who will receive that message shall keep it with all secrecy.**"_

XxXxX

Everyone at school had heard about it. Every student was rambling about poor Evie whose frail little body had litteraly broke with no reason. People were speculating over who had done it. Some thought it was a curse. Some were scared it might happen to them. Audrey was madly chuckling in her head. All this was so funny. All this was so _horribly_ , _wonderfully_ funny!

 _Oh, my! Evie, ya shoulda been more careful with your stuff, dontcha think!_

How hilarious. It was lunch time. But she wasn't hungry. The relishing thought of Evie at the hospital had fed her enough happiness for her to feel full. She chuckled on the grass with glee, in the large garden of the school. Sitting down on the freshly moaned lawn, she patted her skirt pocket.

 _Pat-pat_. _Clink-clink._

She laughed hysterycally.

What joy she was feeling. No. Not joy. She felt power. Like the life of her sworn enemy's best friend was hanging by a thin thread, and she was rubbing it softly with a sharpened blade. The pieces of mirror in her pocket spiked her thigh a bit. It was only pleasant pain. Because she knew, if she wanted, she could...

 _No... it feels to weird to say it... can I say it?_

She could _kill_ her.

She shivered at this thought. That was scary. And really cool.

Of course, she didn't have the intention to kill her! But she kept it just in case. As a collateral, somehow. If Mal, or Carlos, or Jay (or even good ol' Benny Boo) would get on her nerves, she would take the biggest piece out of her pocket and smash it on the ground. Easy. Or, she could break it piece by piece with a mortar and send Mal every other bit of it as she watches her friend slowly slipping away... Or she could just swing it out the window and watch it fall down and hear the music that it would make once it would touch the ground... So many things she could do. But she kept it in her pocket.

Though at first, when she heard how badly Evie had been harmed, Audrey could not help but feel bad for her. In a way, it was unfair that she had hurt her, when they weren't even in that bad of terms. She didn't mind Evie. Well, she was kind of annoying, but her real problem was Mal. It has been Mal all along. But in the end, she understood hurting Evie had been even more devastating for Mal; it had broken her, and made her weak. She even thought that she had shed a few tears. And that made her feel ecstatic.

She shifted a few inches on her right, and lay just within a splash of sunlight. Her pocket clinked when she moved her hips.

Now that she had the mirror, she couldn't help but wonder about the spell book. It was still an undeniable threat to her wellfare. She knew having the book in her possession was a great advantage to Mal. "What if she cast a spell of truth on me? I'd have to admit I was the one who'd done that to Evie..." she said to herself. That thought had immediatly ruined her mood. She clapped her hands on her face in desperation, and released a sigh of anger. A big bestial _puff_ that made her sound really bull-like. A second after, she clapped her hands back on her lap and said: "So what?" A cloud floating up in the sky flew in front of the sun; the splash of sunlight vanished. "So what if she knows? What is she gonna do to me? Turn me into a frog?" Her mind caught a glimpse of her as a green taud, small and gnarly, wearing a cute light pink dress upon her pimply skin. She trembled and gulped back her digust. The cloud flew away and the sun came back. She sat up.

Mal wasn't here at the moment. She was all the way up in King George Town, looking after her sick pal. It took around an hour to get there, same to get back here. Forty five minutes in the evening - certainly not in the afternoon. She might have not taken the book with her to the hospital. Probably not since she was escorted in Fairy Godmother's car, and she was now strongly against magic. She wouldn't dare take it. Or maybe she would, but she forgot. It was an emergency so she forgot. Maybe it was still in her room. And everyone was eating at the canteen.

She got up. Her skirt was all wrinkled and greenish on the bottom. She rushed back inside the dorm. Her pocket was encouraging her with the _clink-link_ , _clink-link_ playing when she walked. She arrived in the corridor. It was empty. As she got closer and closer to Mal's room, excitement was growing in her. She couldn't help chuckle, picturing herself tearing the book apart and burning it to ashes until she was able to blow on it and watch it shrivel in the air. The door came up. She looked to see if anyone was coming, and once she was positive all was secure, she opened the door.

A hot flash took hold of her when she got in. She started sweating. The door closed behind her and she began searching. She lifted up Mal's cushions and looked inside their pillowcases, and under her blanket. Then she lifted the mattress up, but there was nothing. So she sought on and under and behind and inside her desk, and then emptied her drawers inside out and knocked down her commode. She saw nothing. She then headed towards Evie's side of the room, but she stopped in shock.

Evie's desk, where her sewing-machine was previously set, looked like it had been wiped over by a tornado. There were pieces of blue porcelain scattered on the end of the table, around a light-blue lampshade and near a half busted light-bulb. Books were strown all over with ripped pages and half of it had fallen on the floor. On the other end of the desk, she saw bobbins and needles. A free thread was roaming the table and slaloming around little red stains, it went all the way down from the desk to the floor, where lied the machine, completely smashed. A feet from it, there was a little red puddle. It was drying, and seemed to be drawing a sort of mosaic. She knew Evie had been lying there.

Audrey got closer and examined the stain.

"Mmm. They could have cleaned that mess."

And she started to look for the book again.

Aside from Evie's desk and the floor, she found the room was pretty tidy. Meaning, it was pretty tidy before she came in and tore the room apart. Yet the book was nowhere to be seen. She decided to bend over to see if she could find anything under the beds. She squinted her eyes to pierce into the darkness; that only made her look like a crazy old hunchbacked hag, looking for her lost cat. But no book. She trod around the room with her crooked back. Minutes were passing and she still coudn't find the stupid thing: it was driving her crazy.

She ended up running around the room, bent over, with her hands on her head, while she hollered hysteriously: "The _book_! Where is the _book_!"

She would have been ripping her hair off if she hadn't caught a glimpse of that little silver gleam under the closet. It was glowing through the darkness, but only when she placed herself in the right angle. Right before the window, from which a thin sun ray had been able to peep out, the silver gleam twinkled slightly. That discreet and small signal, almost imperceptible, was what Audrey was looking for all along. She jumped right in front of the closet and knelt, so she could take a look at the thing: the silver glow came from a greyish buckle, fastening a old leather clutch bag. She grabbed it.

She stood back up and observed the clutch. It was light purple, however it must have been dark violet once upon a time, but the fabric was so worn out; the years must have rid it of its color. "How authentic," Audrey thought, "perfect size for a spell-book."

She unbuckled it. And there. There it was. That purple thing. It smelled like pine trees and undisclosed witchcraft.

 _Finally! I have found it! The holy Grail!_

"Audrey?"

She froze.

"What _the hell_ are you doing here?!"

* * *

 **Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **I know I'm updating with a lot of delay, but I've been really busy these months because of my upcoming exams. I'm really sorry, I'll try to publish next chapter as soon as possible.**

 **Thanks for reading, Atshepsut XXXX**

 **N.B. Mulan will appear in my fanfiction, however I decided to go a little out of character with her: Lonnie has never seen her mother, since she abandoned her a little time after her birth. They will meet at some point in the fiction.**


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